


Welcome back, Miranda

by Jackalackalope



Category: Lizzie McGuire (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, High School, Teenage Rebellion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27484699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackalackalope/pseuds/Jackalackalope
Summary: Fresh off a less-than-stellar trip to Mexico with her family, Miranda begins high school on the wrong foot as she feels increasingly alienated by her life-long best friends who have just started dating. As she struggles to find her place and deal with adolescent growing pains, she finds a sympathetic ear from an unlikely source.
Relationships: David "Gordo" Gordon/Lizzie McGuire, Miranda Sanchez/Larry Tudgeman
Comments: 10
Kudos: 6





	1. Hello Hillridge High

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after the series and the movie. I was partially inspired by the personal struggles La Laine Vergara has alluded to going through around the Lizzie days and rewatching the series and the movie on Disney Plus. Disney shows are definitely a sanitized portrayal of growing up, but there's something about that show that felt really genuine with the characters, so I wanted to take things in more of a teenage oriented direction (dealing with parties, alcohol, boys) while trying not to stray too far from the tone of the series.

Chapter 1

There was a clang as Miranda’s elbow slammed into the locker. She recoiled as she felt a sting in her funnybone. “PERRA!” she let slip as her books fell to the floor. She looked up to see what felt like the entire student population of Hillridge High staring at her. Her swearing hadn’t been drowned out by the commotion in the hallway as she had hoped. She felt her heart rate speed up as a laugh erupted from a group of seniors across from her and hurriedly to pick up her things. She pulled her hand away quickly, wanting to avoid the shoes rushing past as everyone hurried toward second period. As she did she banged her elbow again, inhaling quickly between her teeth to stop the colorful Spanish vocabulary she’d picked up in Mexico City from getting her in trouble again. 

She felt disoriented as she rose to her feet, searching for a familiar face as the strangers rushing past seemed to blur together. She had only been back in the states for a couple of days and hadn’t seen Lizzie or Gordo at all. She had so much to tell both of them and they had been impossible to get a hold of.  
,   
That morning she had gone through 7 different outfits, nervous about facing her first day of high school after everything that had gone down this summer. As she settled into her desk in second-period math, she played with the sleeve of her sweater nervously. 

“Miranda!” she looked up excitedly as she heard someone call out to her for the first time all day.   
She frowned. It was none other than Larry Tudgeman, who had just claimed the seat next to her.

His hair seemed lighter at the ends, no doubt because the dye job Lizzie had given him near the end of eighth grade had finally almost grown out. He definitely seemed a little taller, and had traded in his signature white and green polo for a white and green ringer t-shirt. “I’m digging your punky ensemble. Kinda like that girl who sings that Overdrive song…”  
“Hey Larry.” She said weakly, unable to hide her disappointment it wasn’t Gordo as she first thought. 

She looked around the classroom as more people started filing in. No sign of them yet.  
She felt guilty as Larry beamed at her. “How was Mexico? It must have been so cool!” Her stomach lurched as she didn’t feel like getting into that particular topic with him. “Oh it was great seeing family…”he was still smiling at her. “…How was your summer? I can’t remember, did you go to Rome too or?” He shook his head. “No, I’m still mad my uncle decided to get married in Maine of all places while I could have been on that trip. I’m still mad I couldn’t talk my way out of it. Boy we sure missed out huh? Talk about the field trip to end all field trips!”

Miranda furrowed her brow “What do you mean?” Larry looked confused, then smiled tentatively. “You’re kidding right?” Miranda blinked a few times. “Lizzie’s big adventure?”

Miranda was dumbfounded. Lizzie hadn’t mentioned anything on their brief phone call the other day. 

Larry looked downright concerned. “No seriously you’re messing with me. It was all over the news!”

An exhausted looking middle-aged man wearing a sweater vest walked in, carrying an absurdly large cup of coffee, the smell of it started wafting through the room.   
“Okay everyone, you can call me Mr. Flores, not Frank, MR. FLORES despite what any seniors may have told you”  
Larry’s eyes widened. “When did you get back?” Miranda stammered “The day before yesterday.” 

“MISS.” Miranda gulped as she looked toward her new English teacher.   
“I will ask that you keep the chatter to a minimum once class has begun.”

She nodded as she heard a few muffled laughs, feeling her face grow hot. 

This day was going from bad to worse. Larry had to be messing with her, there’s no way Lizzie would forget to tell her something that was literally news-worthy, right?


	2. Hello Lizzie and Gordo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic ever so I'm experimenting a bit with chapter length. Do you prefer longer chapters spanning multiple "scenes" or multiple short chapters? I think it's important to note that this fic takes place roughly in 2004, so Miranda can't just google Lizzie's adventures in Rome on her phone or text Lizzie and Gordo in class.

Miranda breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the bell. She had been obsessing over what Larry told her for the past 55 minutes. She started shoving her books into her bag, intent on finding Lizzie and Gordo before third period. 

Larry’s voice broke her out of her racing thoughts. He seemed like he was trying too hard to adopt a casual posture. The placement of his hands in his pockets almost seeming forced. “So Lizzie and Gordo haven’t filled you in? For real?” 

Miranda chose to ignore the question. “Have you seen them at all this morning?” 

“Negative. They shouldn’t be too hard to find though, they’re practically joined at the hip since…”

Suddenly it dawned on her. Lizzie had asked her to meet her at the quad before first period. HOW COULD SHE HAVE FORGOTTEN?! HOW COULD THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE?! 

“Where’s the quad?”

“Huh?”

“The quad! I’m supposed to meet Lizzie there.”

Larry seemed a little unsure. “Follow me, I have biology on that side of the building next anyway. “

\------------------------------

She tried to notice any landmarks and classroom numbers as Larry led her through a series of staircases turns. How big was this place anyway?! It didn’t feel like she’d ever get the lay of the land.

She felt almost out of breath as they opened the door to the quad. The fresh air was a welcome comfort.   
“Looks like you’re in luck but you miiight have to line up behind her fan club.”

She squinted under the bright sunlight. She smiled as she finally saw Lizzie for the first time in months, who seemed to be shooing away two girls holding gel pens and magazines.   
She ran toward Lizzie, ready to apologize for missing their meeting time and finally get to dish about her misadventures in Mexico. 

“Catch you later Sanchez.” she heard Larry say in the distance. 

Lizzie’s mouth dropped as Miranda caught up to her “Miranda! Where were you this morning!” she said before pulling her into a tight hug. 

“I totally forgot!” Miranda sighed. “It’s so nice to see you…I have so much to tell you!”

She looked around the bustling quad. Different cliques were set up at picnic tables, catching up on the summer’s events.

She saw Claire and the cheerzombies before her stomach sank. 

She looked back to Lizzie. “Lizzie….I need you to sit down for what I’m about to tell you.”

Lizzie looked around hurriedly before sitting on the ground. Miranda raised an eyebrow. 

“Do you see any free seats?” Lizzie asked indignantly.

Miranda brushed it off and joined her on the soft grass. She inhaled deeply through her nose trying to think of the right way to put this before settling on the direct approach.

Lizzie looked at her expectantly. 

“I just saw Ethan Craft kiss Kate Saunders.” 

She braced herself, but Lizzie just laughed. “I know about that, it’s ok!”

Miranda snorted. “You don’t have to pretend around me-“

Lizzie laughed. “No seriously, Gordo and I actually went to the beach with them last week-“

She was interrupted by the bell. 

“Sorry. I gotta go, I’ll see you at lunch?”

“No they’re doing club sign ups…I’m checking out the drama club auditions at lunch.” Miranda said as she rose to her feet, already dreading trying to find her next class.

“Meet me at the Digital Bean at 6PM. We are SO overdue for a catchup.”

Lizzie was already heading in the opposite direction. 

“Bring Gordo!” Miranda called out. “I haven’t seen him yet.” 

She smiled. A catchup at the Digital Bean with her bestie was just what she needed once she made it through the day. 

\--------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 3

Miranda arrived at the Digital Bean at 5:30 sharp. She was so excited for at least one thing to feel like normal after having been gone for a solid 5 months. She strayed from her usual peppermint tea order and got herself a hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings to boot. 

She relished in the sweet treat while she went over her lines for the auditions for Little Shop of Horrors, the fall musical. She copied the lines for her monologue into her math binder, a memorization trick she read about way back when she was getting ready for the 6th grade Christmas pageant. 

“Oh good you’re early too!” she looked up to see Lizzie walking toward her with a big smile. 

“Is Gordo coming too?”

“He’ll be here!” she said as she sat down. 

Miranda started to put away her binder as she noticed a young girl approaching their table. 

“Can I get your autograph?” she heard her say to Lizzie. 

As she sat up, she had to hold back from laughing, Did this girl think Lizzie was Britney Spears or something? 

“Oh uh…sure” Lizzie said, seeming uncomfortable.   
Miranda wondered who the girl was on the cover of the magazine her friend was signing, it really looked A LOT like her. 

She grabbed it out of Lizzie’s hand before she passed it back to the little girl. 

“I just want to see…” her jaw DROPPED. It WAS LIZZIE. 

The headline read “American girl gets caught up in disgraced Italian pop star’s scheme, who is she?”

She dropped the magazine on the floor. 

“Hey!” the little girl pouted. “Oh uh, sorry!” she said as she picked it up and passed it back to her. 

Miranda’s head was spinning. Larry was right. WHY WAS SHE ONLY HEARING ABOUT THIS NOW. 

“Hey! Miranda you in there?” She shook her head. Gordo seemed to be waiting for her to stand up so he could give her a hug. She instead crossed her arms and looked from Lizzie to Gordo and back. 

“Anyone care to explain?!” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It all sounded like something from a telenovela. If she hadn’t seen the magazine article, she wouldn’t have believed a word of it. There was so much to take in. 

“So what now?!”   
Gordo and Lizzie looked at each other. 

“What do you mean what now?” Lizzie said. 

Miranda couldn’t believe she had to spell this out. 

“Aren’t you gonna jet off to superstardom?! Leave the little people behind?! Go marry Justin Timberlake?! You know be a pop star?!”

Lizzie laughed uncomfortably. “Going back to being normal Lizzie is what’s happening. There’s no way my parents would let me quit school. This will all blow over soon enough.” 

Before Miranda could reply, Gordo interjected. 

“As for Justin Timberlake, he’ll have to go through me.” He said as he grabbed Lizzie’s hand. 

The revelations just kept coming. “IT FINALLY HAPPENED?!” 

Lizzie smiled. Miranda pumped her fist. “All right Gordo!” 

As they continued talking about their summer, Miranda felt a knot form in her stomach. How could they not tell her all this until now? Her friends had gone through so much without her. 

She swallowed as she remembered Lizzie’s words from the quad. 

“What’s this I hear about you both hanging with Kate?”

The knot in her stomach grew as Lizzie told her about how supportive Kate was in Rome along with their newfound friendship. Why did it feel like…she’d been replaced.

“Anyway,” she snapped out of it hearing Gordo’s words. “How was Mexico? Did you also get duped by a hunky pop star? Tell us everything.”

Miranda looked at her watch. They had been sitting there for two hours now. 

“Oh uh…well it doesn’t really measure up to your adventures in Rome!” she suddenly felt extremely self conscious. 

“Did you meet any cute guys?” Lizzie prodded. 

Miranda looked at her bag. “I actually…really have to get out of here. My parents have me on a bit of a short leash right now and they’ll freak if I get home late.”

“Short leash? Did something happen?” Lizzie asked.   
All she could think about was how she was only learning all of this now. Granted, it was tricky for them to call each other while she was in Mexico, but Lizzie couldn’t have even mentioned Paolo on the postcard she sent from Rome?!

Miranda bit her lip. “Oh…I’ll fill you in at lunch tomorrow…nothing major.” She lied.

\----------------

Miranda rushed up the stairs as soon as she got through the door, not bothering to greet her parents.   
Though her stomach was in knots, she did feel a slight bit of relief as she closed her bedroom door behind her. 

She slumped to the floor while hugging her knees to her chest. How was it that so many major things had changed when she had only been gone for a few months? 

It felt like she left the Hillridge she knew forever when she boarded that plane to Mexico, and came back to the strange upside-down version. 

How was it that neither Lizzie or Gordo mentioned ANY of this in the postcards they exchanged? Granted, there isn't that much room to write on them,   
but especially something as major as crossing the he-is-not-my-boyfriend-we-are-just-friends boundary. 

That news was bigger to her than the whole pop star debacle, even though she'd known for a while it was only a matter of time before Gordo plucked up the courage. 

She stood up and looked around her room. It was just as she had left it before, orange walls and inflatable chair and all. She walked over to the corkboard where  
she pinned clothing designs she had drawn up and old photos. Her hand lingered over a picture of the three of them at the Sadie Hawkin's dance before she noticed the photo tucked underneath. 

It was a faded picture of her, Lizzie and Kate in 4th grade at one of their sleepovers. The original three amigos before Kate ditched them for Claire and the other cheer losers. 

She unpinned the photo and carried it to her bed, examining the gap-toothed smiles. Things had changed really fast then too. 

As soon as Kate made the cheer squad, it was only a matter of weeks before she seemed embarrassed to be around Lizzie and Miranda, and later became outright nasty. 

She remembered consoling Lizzie, who cried over it in frustrated confusion when Kate told them she wouldn't be caught dead sitting with them at lunch. 

Though she didn't tell Lizzie, the angry words she had about Kate were really masking just as much hurt. 

Over time, it became a good thing, as she and Lizzie became each other's bffs and they began a friendship with Gordo. 

She shoved the photo in a drawer in her bedside table and began changing into her pyjamas. 

She stared up at the ceiling once she was under the comforters. Change could be a good thing, but it didn't feel so great that all this had happened without her. 

She breathed in deeply. At least she wasn't the only one left out of the life-changing trip to Rome. Tudgeman was left out too.


	3. Hey, Kate and Ethan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first week of high school is never an easy adjustment. Miranda's growing jealousy and resentment toward her middle school besties threatens to drive a wedge between them.

Miranda chewed her pencil nervously in second period. She only had one class in common with Lizzie, music class at the end of the day. The only class she shared with Gordo was Spanish class, just before that one. 

After the tense ending to her vacation in Mexico, she felt a familiar warmth and comfort being around them at the Digital Bean last night. That said, she almost felt like whenever she wasn’t around them, the bigger the gap formed between them. She’d always felt a little closer to Lizzie than Gordo, seeing as they were both girls. Now that Lizzie and Gordo were together, would she become the third wheel?

The drone of Mr. Flores pulled her out of her thoughts momentarily, and she copied the equation on the board into her notebook absentmindedly.  
“Miss Sanchez?”

What she really needed was some one-on-one time with Lizzie, and really have a heart to heart about everything that had happened in the months they spent apart. 

“Miss Sanchez?”  
Yeah, that would be perfect, and probably what she needed for everything to feel …normal again.  
She seized up as she heard snickering behind her. 

“MISS. SANCHEZ.”

She looked up from her notebook to see Mr. Flores scowling at her, straight in front of her desk with his arms crossed. 

“Glad to see you’ve joined us. The answer to the equation on the board? Solve for X?” 

Miranda’s jaw dropped. 

“Uh right…I…”

More snickers. She felt a lump form in her throat.  
“It’s 42.” She turned to see Tudgeman with his head resting in his hand, staring up at Mr.Flores non-chalantly. 

“I was asking Miss Sanchez.” He sneered. 

She swallowed. “Well he’s right, it’s 42.”

The teacher rolled his eyes and turned around to go straight to the board. 

“That’s correct. As I was saying…”

Miranda exhaled. She pushed her hair behind her ears feeling everyone staring at her. 

She drummed her fingers, waiting for the moment to pass, but she still felt a pair of eyes on her. 

She turned to see Larry Tudgeman still looking at her curiously, as if he was trying to figure her out. 

She looked at the floor after meeting his gaze. The last person she wanted to be judged by was him.

She remembered the party she threw not long before she left. He never seemed to be mad at her for excluding him. The fact that he was so nice to her made her feel even more guilty for that.  
She flipped the pages of her notebook back to the monologue she’d copied the night before. Auditions were at the end of the week. At least there was one thing to look forward to.  
She felt a chill in her neck. He was still watching her. She shrugged her shoulder aggressively. 

He pointedly turned his head to watch their teacher. 

Miranda felt another twinge of guilt. He had just bailed her out. And filled her in on everything before Lizzie and Gordo did. And helped her find her way around yesterday…

She had to practically run after Tudgeman once the bell rang. He left so quickly that she couldn’t find him in the sea of people rushing through the hallway.  
She walked toward the quad, remembering that he had mentioned he had class in that direction after math. 

She saw him just about to round a corner and picked up her pace. “Tudgeman!”  
He kept walking. “Larry!”

He stopped and turned around, looking to place the voice as the other students hurried past him.  
She ran up to him.

“Thanks for bailing me out.”  
He smiled. “No problem. Flores seems like a bit of a jerk.”

“Yeah, what’s his deal?! I can’t believe we’re gonna have to deal with him all semester!”

“Yeah he was really picking on you. Did you call him Frank or something?”  
Miranda smiled and rolled her eyes. There had to be a good story there. Who the heck made him hate his own first name that much?  
“Hey,” Larry said a little tentatively, ”are you trying out for Little Shop of Horrors? I noticed you copied Audrey’s monologue.”

“Yeah..I’m deadset on redeeming myself for my…stellar performance in Greasier.”

Larry winced. 

“I do love a good redemption arc…I’m gonna be helping out with the lighting and tech so I’ll try to make sure you’re at least under a flattering light.”

There was an awkward pause.

He continued “I didn’t think crazy sentient plants and mad scientist florist types would be your sort of play.”

“I’ve actually never seen it, I signed up to audition before I knew which musical they were even doing!”

“No way! The movie they did in the 80s is pretty great. I can lend you my copy if you w-“  
“Miranda!” Lizzie was calling her over from further down the hallway.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, see you in math class…” his grin seemed a bit lopsided.

\------------------------------------------

Lunch felt a little weird. Ethan and Kate joined them. She got to hear all about their adventures in Rome in greater detail. It was even crazier than what Gordo and Lizzie made it out to be.  
“You really covered for her?” Miranda was staring at Kate in amazement. 

“Yeah, well…I thought maybe if I played my cards right I’d have a chance with Paolo.”

She and Lizzie exchanged a glance and laughed. Ethan seemed to be still trying to connect the dots.  
Miranda bit her lip seeing the camaraderie between Kate and Lizzie. It was just so…weird.

The whole Rome adventure was beginning to feel like one big fun secret everyone was in on but her. 

She felt her discomfort give way to annoyance. 

“So uh…Kate and Ethan, how was the rest of your summer?” she asked before tucking into the dodgy looking ghoulash surprise the cafeteria had on offer today. 

Ethan took the bait.  
“I spent most of it at football camp. I’m really hoping to nail tryouts for the team next week. My parents said football is probably my only chance at a scholarship…”

Miranda looked up at Gordo, who was trying and failing to conceal his smirk. 

“…and I met this cool guy there named Benny, he showed me this neat technique to take care of my hair…”

Miranda felt thankful for the fact that Ethan was feeling chatty. Kate seemed to feel self conscious, stealing nervous glances at her. While she found this strangely satisfying and somewhat reassuring, she didn’t particularly feel like addressing the elephant in the room.

“So Miranda-“ Kate cut Ethan straight off, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

“How was Mexico.” Miranda furrowed her brow, Kate almost seemed afraid of her.

“It was good to see family. Nothing as exciting as your vacation” Gordo raised an eyebrow.  
Maybe that came off a bit more bitter than she meant.

“It was good to brush up on my Spanish, plus I really loved getting to eat real Mexican food everyday. Ketchup is not a spice people!”

Kate laughed a little too hard.  
As the bell rang, Miranda tried to catch Lizzie, but saw she was walking off hand in hand with Gordo.  
She resolved to call her after school.

__________________________________________________

Supper that evening felt almost as uncomfortable.

“Did you hear about what happened to Lizzie in Rome?! How come you didn’t tell us about it Mija?”  
her mom asked her just as she had taken a big mouthful of rice. 

She chewed slowly. How many times was she going to have to hear about this?!

“I only found out yesterday. The whole story is so crazy…”

“You’re telling me!” her father interjected. 

“Who would have thought Lizzie would get caught up in something like that? She’s always been the level-headed one.”

Miranda took a big gulp of water. Why was everything annoying her today?  
“This is the sort of thing that could launch a music career. Is she going to get an agent?” 

Her mom seemed more excited about it than her dad. 

Miranda shook her head. “I asked about that yesterday. She said she just wants to graduate high school before thinking about any of that.” 

“Sounds like a missed opportunity to me…” her mom said a little sadly.

“Are you crazy?! Those teen idols never turn out well. I’d say she made the right choice!” her dad almost seemed angry. 

Miranda was just poking at her food with her fork at this point. 

“You ok?” her mom asked.

She swallowed. “I’m just not hungry.” She immediately got up to clear her plate. 

Why was this making her so angry?!  
After she finished cleaning up after supper, she ran straight up to her room. She stared at the portable phone on her night stand. Did she really feel like calling Lizzie? 

She was probably busy with Gordo. Or Kate.

She got her Walkman out, planning on just zoning out, listening to music in bed, hoping it would calm her down. 

Just then, her phone rang. She was planning on letting her parents get it, it was probably for them anyway. 

“Miranda” her dad called from downstairs.

“It’s Lizzie.”

She picked up the phone. 

“Hey” she said weakly.

“Hey Miranda. Me and Gordo are going to see the new Spiderman movie. Wanna come with?”

Miranda frowned, she didn’t feel like third wheeling. 

“Oh I was actually meaning to call you-“

“Kate and Ethan are coming too, you should come!”

Fifth wheeling. UGH. 

Her mind was racing trying to find an excuse. 

“I don’t know, my parents have me on a curfew…I have to be home by 8. What time does the movie start?”

“Uhhh lemme check…6:30.”

“No dice” Miranda tried to hide the smile in her voice. At least this curfew was good for something. 

“Hey didn’t you mention something about that yesterday? Did something happen between you and your parents?”

Miranda bit her lip…where to start.

“Hold on a second," Lizzie interrupted her before she could. "…yeah Kate she said she can’t come…Something about a curfew? I don’t know…”

She squeezed her fingers on the phone. Something about Kate hearing about this made her blood boil, despite all the nice things she had supposedly done for Lizzie. She felt her chest rise and fall as her breathing quickened. Now she needed an excuse to get off the phone.

“Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” She inhaled sharply after saying it. There was no mistaking the venom in her voice. Maybe Lizzie hadn’t picked up on it. 

“Yeah sure…” her voice sounded shaky. She had. INSTANT GUILT.

“Umm listen Miranda, I feel like we’re definitely overdue for a hangout. Do you think your parents would be cool with you coming over on Friday? We could get in our PJs and watch a movie and eat way too many M and Ms.” She finished her sentence with a nervous laugh.

Miranda knew her bff well enough to know that meant she was feeling really uncomfortable.  
She glanced at the corkboard on her desk. She felt the tension in her body melt away. 

“Yeah I’d love that. I’m sure they’ll be fine with it since I’m just going to your place and there won’t be any boys.”

“Great I have an excuse to kick Matt out!”

Miranda chuckled. “Matt doesn’t count.”  
She couldn’t count how many times she had brought her sleeping bag to Lizzie’s with their only real plans being to walk to the corner store and rent a movie. 

“Hey Lizzie, I just remembered something, wanna watch Little Shop of Horrors on Friday?”


	4. Hey Matt!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Though Miranda finally gets to hang out with Lizzie like old times, her need to get her misadventures in Mexico off her chest clouds over their laidback hangout...

Miranda hopped off her bed and booted up the old desktop in the corner of her room.  
She didn’t have math class on Friday, so if she was going to borrow Tudge’s VHS of Little Shop of Horrors it would have to be tomorrow.

She didn’t have his number but she figured a nerd like him would definitely be on AOL around this time. 

She picked up the phone to see if her parents were using it. Clear dialtone. JACKPOT. 

She ran outside her room while she waited for the computer to boot up. 

“Hey mom, dad!” she called down the stairs, “I need to use the Internet for a school project so no one get on the phone.”

“Abuela is calling at 7 so be off by then.” She heard her mom call. 

She smirked. Her parents seemed to have no concept of how long things took to do on the Internet. 

It would definitely take her less than 40 minutes to shoot Tudge a quick message.  
She sat in her computer chair, highlighting her lines while she listened to the screech of the dial up connection.  
Finally, she was online, but…Tudge wasn’t. She spun around in her chair. Should she send him an e-mail?  
Nah, even Tudge wouldn’t check his school e-mail after school. 

She started reciting her monologue, trying to look up from the page every other line to try and really get it memorized for her audition the following week. 

She looked at the time in the bottom right corner of her screen. 6:35. 

Come on Tudge, Abuela always calls on time. 

Finally he came online. She clicked it right away. “Hey!” she sent. 

Looking at it on the screen was a little strange, she’d had him as a contact since the 7th grade but the conversation history was blank.  
“Sorry Miranda, no time to do any math tutoring tonight :P”

Pfft. Tudgeman would always be Tudgeman.

“Haha I’m good thanks :D Actually I was wondering if you could bring your copy of the movie? I wanted to watch it before auditions next week.”

“Movie? You’ll have to be more specific. (jk)”

“lol thanks.”  
“I was actually just at a production meeting for the show. Have you picked your song yet?”

“Not yet!.” She lied. The truth was she was so focused on the monologue she had forgotten. 

“Just sing Somewhere that’s green. Everyone else will.”

“What’s that?”

“Haha. You’ll hear it in the movie.”  
How many times had Tudge watched this thing? She was used to hearing him go on about The Matrix and Star…flip command thingy but she’d never pegged him as the type for musicals.  
Between Gordo’s love for weird art films and ratpack movies, plus Tudge’s love for sci fi and…musicals apparently? she would never need to look far for a movie recommendation. She snorted wondering what kind of movies Ethan would recommend. 

“Got any movies to recommend? :P I feel like it’s only fair.”

Oh boy…unless Tudge was a fan of romcoms she wasn’t sure she had any.

“I’ll try to come up with something. My abuela needs the phone, g2g!

\----------------------------------------------------------

Miranda felt downright giddy walking into the door of Lizzie’s house for the first time in 5 months. This place had felt like a second home for all of middle school. 

“Miranda? You’re back!” She looked up to see Matt, rushing down the stairs, sporting the biggest smile she’d ever seen on his face. The little pipsqueak could be endearing sometimes.

“Look at you, you’re so much taller!”

“I am?” 

She ruffled his hair. “Yeah you’re growin’ up kiddo.”  
He stepped back, looking a little put out. 

“Heard you’re grounded into next century for the stunt you tried to pull in Rome.”

He crossed his arms. “Ah so you heard about that…”

Lizzie walked in, rolling her eyes. 

“Get lost Matt, me and Miranda have dibs on the TV tonight.”  
He made a big show out of rolling his eyes at her. 

“Whatever. Like I want to watch some mushy romance movie anyway.” Matt said as he began to walk back up the stairs. 

“Isn’t it a horror movie?” Lizzie said as Miranda walked up the stairs to drop her overnight bag in her room. 

“It’s a musical actually. Larry said there was a song I should sing at my audition.” Miranda called down

“Larry?”

“Tudgeman. He’s doing lighting and tech in the show.”  
“Is that your boooooooyfriend?” Matt called out from his room. 

Miranda was surprised he was still listening in. 

“As if!” Lizzie called up to him. “Get lost derk!”

As Miranda left her room to go back down the stairs, she saw that Lizzie was waiting at the door for her.  
“Shall we take a trip to get some junk food first?”

“Yes please!”

“Get me some Mike and Ikes!” Matt yelled.  
“What’s the magic word twerp?!” lizzie called back. 

“Get me some Mike and Ikes please your Highness.” He replied flatly. 

Miranda snickered. Some things never change.

\----------------------------------------------------  
There was a cool breeze in the air as they walked back from the corner store, slushies in hand, as Lizzie carried a plastic bag filled with goodies like M and Ms, chips and dip, and the Mike and Ikes Miranda convinced Lizzie to get for her brother. 

“Hey Miranda?”

“Hmm?”

“Is my tongue blue?” Lizzie stuck out her tongue that was definitely stained a vibrant shade of blue. 

Miranda smirked. “So I guess Gordo’s been checking out your tongue while I was gone…”

She heard Lizzie sputter as she choked on her slushie.

“Miranda!” Lizzie had turned beet red. Miranda could only smile. 

Lizzie started to laugh. “Your teeth are stained bright red”

Miranda covered her mouth with her hand as they both laughed it off.

“Seriously…I knew he’d always carried a torch for you, I think the whole school knew that, but you never talked to me about Gordo in that way before. How did it happen?”

Lizzie had a dreamy look in her eyes and started fidgeting with her hair using her free hand.

“I think that…when you were gone, we spent more time alone together, and I started to realize I liked him without really getting it…”

Miranda tried to make sense of that sentence for a good 10 seconds.

“Huh?”

“Well like…we had this murder mystery party at my place…and Gordo was weirdly competitive about it. Kate said it was because he wanted me to notice him…”

“Kate did?” Miranda asked a little too quickly. 

“And we had a moment after the party where I looked at him and I felt like I had butterflies…”

Miranda smiled while looking up at the rustling leaves in the trees above them. Gordo had desperately wanted this for so long, though he’d never outright told her. She was happy he finally got what he wanted.

“But I guess it didn’t all click until he got himself kicked off the field trip and risked everything to save me from Paolo…and I kissed him”

Miranda stopped in her tracks. Lizzie turned around and looked at her curiously. 

“YOU kissed HIM? I hadn’t heard this part of the story! Bold move McGuire.”

Lizzie laughed as they resumed their walk. 

“So…you guys are together for real now?” Lizzie nodded. 

“Have you…”

Lizzie turned to her wide-eyed and beet red. “NO! Oh my God no.”

Lizzie covered her face in embarrassment.

“Well if that does happen you have to tell me!”

Like you could have told me about any of this in a few post cards, she thought.  
Miranda gritted her teeth, not wanting to ruin their fun evening. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They were dressed in their PJs, pigging out on junk food when they finally got the dusty old VCR set up and popped in Little Shop of Horrors. 

Miranda examined the cover, the corners were worn and the colours were faded, as though it had been left in the sunlight at one point. On the top, she could just barely make out “To Lawrence from Grandma, happy birthday ‘96” scrawled in permanent marker. 

“When did you say auditions were” Lizzie asked.

Was Lizzie planning on auditioning too?!

“Why do you ask?” she countered.

“Just curious about when you’ll hear back, you’re really putting a lot of effort into this. Don’t worry, I’m signed up for Glee Club this year, not the school paper, so I won’t be reviewing it.”

Lizzie started fast-forwarding through the previews, too focused on her TV to look at Miranda. 

Miranda settled in on the other end of the couch, hugging one of the large cushions Lizzie’s mom always kept.

\----------------------------------------------------

“You said you borrowed this from Tudgeman?” Lizzie asked about halfway through.

“Yeah, he made it sound like he’s watched it more than a few times. Never pegged him as a musical fan.” Miranda said between bites of popcorn. 

“Well it makes sense really, weird science experiments, talking plants, and the geek gets the girl…it seems to be going in that direction.”

“Awww I don’t know whether that’s more sweet or sad..”  
She felt Lizzie looking at her. 

“What?”

“You said he’s working on the musical?”

“Yeah, doing lights and stuff…he told me yesterday the people working on it are pretty cool.”

“What else did he tell you?” she turned to see Lizzie with her arms crossed, smiling at Miranda with an eyebrow raised.

“Huh?”

Lizzie laughed. “How much money do you wanna bet on the possibility that he’s fantasized about this movie being about you two.”

Miranda threw her pillow at Lizzie. “No way that is too creepy even for Tudge.”

Lizzie laughed even harder. “I saw you talking in the hallway, he’s gotten taller and looking a little cuter.”

“Lizzie no way. N-O-W-A-Y! I made that very clear to him last year.”

Lizzie paused the movie and turned to face her. 

“Just sounds like you’ve been getting along this week. Didn’t you mentioned to talked to him on AOL even? Come on you almost kissed him at your part-“

“Uh hey! We do not speak of that incident! Plus I didn’t know It was him. No way Lizzie, he’s TUDGEMAN.”  
“He is a genuinely nice guy Miranda…”

Miranda shook her head. 

“You just want me to get a boyfriend so you and Gordo can have couple friends. Sorry but I think I’ll be third wheeling for a while.”

“Well if not Larry, are there any other candidates?”

Miranda frowned. “Well…Ethan’s definitely permanently out of the picture so I’ll need to find a new crush. Maybe I’ll meet some cute guys doing the musical.”

“No steamy romance in Mexico?”

Miranda put down the popcorn. This was finally her chance to tell Lizzie what happened.

“I honestly really need to talk to someone about what happened in Mexico, but I need you to promise you won’t tell anyone, not even Gordo…or Kate.”

Lizzie bit her lip. 

“Of course it’ll stay between us…is it… bad?”

Miranda felt sick to her stomach. No going back now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession time: I'm Canadian so I used MSN rather than AOL. As such I'm not super familiar with how AOL worked, and tried to be a little vague about it using my memories of chatting with high school friends on MSN. I'm a few years younger than Lizzie and Miranda, but I tried to apply my memories of the early 2000s to the story. Re: Matt, Jake Thomas strongly implied in an AMA on Reddit he had a precocious crush on Lalaine as a kid while filming Lizzie. There was an episode with that scenario, so I guess it's kinda cannon lol.


	5. Adios, Luis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda recalls the moment everything went wrong for her in Mexico.

That day had started out so well. Miranda had spent much of the morning helping her grandmother make tamales while her parents went out to visit old friends. In the two months she’d spent in the home country, as her grandfather put it, she’d noticed that there was always a lot more going on, no matter what time of day, than back home.

Back in Hillridge, other than the occasional group of roving kids on bikes, she never heard all that many people outside in her family’s home in their quiet suburb. Sometimes she turned her boombox on when her parents weren’t home just because she didn’t like the quiet. Here, it was never completely quiet. Her grandparents lived on a busier street, walking distance from the beach, so she often heard tourists and locals alike walking to the beach in a good mood, sometimes blasting latin pop from their cars. She also had an assortment of cousins, aunts, and uncles, constantly popping in and out.

Today, her cousins Jorge and Anna Maria had taken her to the beach for the afternoon. Miranda spent the afternoon swimming and lying on the sand, wanting to make the best of her last few weeks before returning to the states. On their walk back, they were flagged by a group of teens in a pickup truck. Her twin cousins ran up to them while Miranda hung back a little timidly.

“Miranda!” she looked up to see Luis, the 16 year-old who lived next door to grandparents. He had shaggy black hair and a crooked smile that made her melt. She’d only spoken to him a handful of times since she’d been so self-concious about her Spanish. “Do you want come to the party too?” he asked her in broken English. She felt her heart race. “What party?”she asked in Spanish. She turned to her cousins. “Are you guys going too?” Anna Maria pressed a finger to her lips. “Top secret! Don’t mention it in front grandma and grandpa. Tell them you’re coming to our place.” Miranda nodded, slightly confused. What was the big deal?

“ _You’re starting high school in September right_?” Luis asked. Miranda felt herself blush. She didn’t think he would remember her mentioning that detail. “ _You have to come so you can tell your American friends how much cooler the parties are in Mexico_.” She felt her legs turn to jelly, already trying to mentally plan her cutest outfit. Maybe she would have her first real kiss! She felt Jorge’s elbow nudging her arm. “Uhhh…yeahh..great..cool!” she stammered in English. The pickup was already driving away as Luis waved her goodbye.

\------------------------------------------------

Once she arrived to the party, it was obvious why her cousins wanted her to keep it a secret. Jorge had driven them to a large house that seemed a little out of the way. Most of the people there seemed to be in their late teens. The smell tobacco and marijuana hit her as soon as they walked up the driveway. Inside, there were so many people it seemed hard to move. She looked to Anna Maria for reassurance, she had never been to a real house party like this before.

“ _Who are all these people?_ ” she asked her cousin. “ _I recognize a bunch of people from school, some random people as well. Just relax, everyone’s already half-drunk anyway_.” Miranda looked through the crowd, somehow hoping to spot some familiar faces. Her stomach turned. There was something uneasy about being crammed in a tight space with mostly total strangers. She took a deep breath. This party made the party Kate’s sister threw her look like child’s play. Her parents would freak out if they knew she’d even looked at this party.

She looked around her, Jorge and Anna Maria had left and were now part of the crowd. She had to do something to at least look busy. She squeezed her way through the crowd into a room where she heard chanting. Oh, this is where the keg was. Go figure. She felt a hand on her shoulderand turned to see Luis smiling at her. This was the first time she'd been so close she could see his stubble. She felt her heart race. “You came to the party!” He said in English. “ _Yeah…you’re the only person I know here other than my cousins…_ ” she instantly felt self conscious, feeling she had let on that she was terrified at her first real house party.

“ _Your Spanish has gotten better! I’m impressed. Hold on, I’ll get you a drink._ ” Before she could say no, he had already disappeared into the crowd. She bit her lip. She was hopeless at talking to guys, remembering the disasterous time she had to have Lizzie tell her what to say to her crush. She knew if Lizzie and Gordo were here, they could all come up with some excuse to go home early, but that wasn’t happening with her cousins.

Luis came back with two drinks, smiling. If she did have her first real kiss tonight, she’d leave out the part about the drink. Gordo would lecture her endlessly for even considering it. Maybe one couldn’t hurt.

\--------------------------------------------

She woke up with a jolt feeling the cold air on her skin. She had a crick in her neck as she sat up. She was in the passenger seat of a pickup truck. Her vision was hazy. She yawned as her eyes started focusing. Outisde the window she saw looking at a lawn with dew-covered grass in front of a white stone house…her grandparent’s house.

She looked next to her to see Luis asleep in the driver’s seat. He drove her home? The pieces were coming together. She hadn’t come home last night…her grandparents must have been so worried, and what about Anna Maria and Jorge?! If she got them in trouble they would be so mad. What time was it? She took a deep breath. She usually left her bedroom window open at night. If she could sneak back in it would be like nothing happened. She tried to open the door before remembering. What if it triggered the car alarm. She could just imagine her parents swarming around.

She nudged Luis. He sputtered. She nudged him again. He looked up at her sleepily, in a daze. “ _Can you let me out_?” she asked. He nodded and closed his eyes. She noticed the keys were still in the ignition. She turned them and unlocked the truck before setting them on the dash.

The grass felt freezing cold on her bare feet. What had happened to her shoes?! She resolved to get her cousins to fill her in later while she concentrated on quietly skulking to the side of her house. The window was open. This was almost too perfect.

As she walked up to the side of the house, she noticed that the bottom of the window was about shoulder height. She’d need a boost to get in. Yeah, if she got into bed, grandma and grandpa usually went to bed before her anyway, they probably figured she’d got in last night. Her parents were only supposed to be back around noon, so they would never know she was gone. THIS COULD WORK.

She looked around the garden and remembered her grandpa had a wooden chair in the backyard he liked to sit on when he chewed tobacco in the evenings. Her stomach churned as she picked up the chair. She dropped it and fell to her knees, hurling chunks. This. Is. The. Worst. She thought to herself as she wiped her mouth and stood up wobbily.

She dragged the chair to the side of the house. It creaked as she stepped on, she hoped it would hold out just long enough for her to climb in the window. She fell onto the floor of the guest bedroom with a loud thud. Her head was pounding. She got up and looked down at the chair. Her grandpa had had that since she could remember, she would hate to break it. She looked down. It was in one piece. She looked at the alarm clock on the end table. 4:15 AM. She sat on the bed and exhaled. She had gotten away with it.

She couldn’t wait to tell Lizzie and Gordo about her big spy operation when she got back. She got under the covers, not bothering to change into her pyjamas. Blurry flashes of the night before flashed as she quickly went to sleep. She distinctly remembered feeling Luis’ stubble on her face at some point.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

She awoke again to a pounding on her door. “ _Mija? Are you ok?_ ” she sat up in bed. Were her parents home early? “I’ll be up in a second…” she glanced at her alarm clock. It read 12:37 PM. WHAT.

She panicked while changing into her pyjamas. She’d have to tell her mom she felt like she had the flu or something. That would mean she'd need to stay in her room all day for at least two days to make it believable….a small price to pay for the perfect crime.

She opened the door and stumbled toward the kitchen where she heard her parents talking animatedly with her grandparents in the kitchen. “ _A neighbor called the cops on them…Rodrigo said the house is trashed!..._ ”

Miranda walked in, yawning. Her parents looked wide-eyed and horrified. “I think I have a fever…I slept for like 14 hours…” her dad looked at her in wide-eyed fury, her mom crossed her arms. She looked helplessly at her grandma. Her grandma gestured toward the mirror on the wall across from the kitchen table. Miranda looked into it to see a bunch of hickeys trailing down her neck. There was no talking her way out of this one.

\-------------------------------------

The kitchen table had now become an interrogation room as her parents had shooed out her grandparents to sit on the front patio. Her father was pacing back and forth, his eyes wide and wild. She had never seen him this angry. Her mom’s hysterical cries had now given way to panicked questioning. Miranda initially tried to protect Anna Maria and Jorge saying she had been invited by some strangers on the beach.

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” her dad said, smacking his hand on the table. She didn’t know what to do, she’d never seen her parents like this. She cracked pretty easily under the pressure, just wanting to make it stop, and told them everything. Her mom immediately went to call her aunt while her dad sat at the table.

“How did you get home?! When did you get home?” “Luis drove me…” “LUIS---HE DROVE YOU?! HE DROVE?! HE COULD HAVE KILLED SOMEONE”

The tears started flowing out of her eyes. “He didn’t though we got home…” “SO HE DID THIS”, he said, aggressively gesturing toward her neck. The truth was Miranda only had hazy memories of kissing him, she presumed it was him.

“I guess, I- dad relax!.”

He crossed his arms, breathing heavily. “Please tell me you used protection.”

“Dad,” she was unable to choke back her tears.

“We didn’t”

“What if you got pregnant?!”

  
“Dad I’m telling you we didn’t!” He got up and stormed out of the house. She ran after him, only to see he was pounding on the door of Luis’ house. Before long, Luis’ father and Miranda’s father were hurling obscenities at each other on the front lawn while Miranda watched in horror. She rested her head in her hands and started silently crying. Luis was never going to speak to her again, and she barely remembered kissing him. She couldn’t wait to get home and forget about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we've all had a moment like this in our early teens where we wanted to test the limits and ended up blowing way past them. It can be really humiliating and painful dealing with the fallout. I wanted Miranda's experience in Mexico to be the polar opposite of Lizzie's in Greece.
> 
> If there are any actual teens reading this I want to make one thing clear: Luis is a creep. A 16 year old getting a 14 year old drunk, making out with them, and driving home drunk is not the kind of guy you should feel bad ratting out to your parents. This fic is written from Miranda's perspective, and she doesn't understand all the implications of what happened because she is young and naive. I just want to state it writing as myself, if you have a Luis in your life rat him out, kids.


	6. Hello, bright lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda has released some of the tension she'd been carrying since her Mexico trip, and gets some surprising news about the end of semester musical.

Miranda held one of Jo McGuire’s many cushions close to her chest for comfort. She was staring at the TV, the image still frozen on a frame about mid-way through Little Shop of Horrors. Mercifully, Lizzie and Matt’s parents were out at a dinner party so she didn’t have to worry about them overhearing. She knew they would read her the riot act. She fiddled with a popcorn kernel, wondering if Matt had been listening in. Lizzie had been mostly silent.

“Oh my God…Miranda…” Miranda looked up. Lizzie seemed stunned. “I just…what happened after that?” Miranda sighed deeply. “Luis never talked to me again. Anna Maria and Jorge and their friends gave me the cold shoulder for the rest of the trip. My aunt and my mom had a big fight about it. Apparently my cousins are still shit for it in school because I got Luis in trouble…”she looked up nervously at Lizzie, who seemed to be thinking of the right way to put what she was about to say.

“That’s stupid. He got himself in trouble. Your cousins got themselves in trouble. Why is everyone mad at you?” Miranda blinked back tears. She didn’t know how much she needed to hear that. “I really enjoyed it there, but the fight between my aunt and my mom over this is so bad I don’t think we’ll be back for a while…” Lizzie shook her head. “Why are they fighting anyway?” Miranda wrapped herself in the blanket that was draped on the back of the couch. Though Lizzie’s reactions were making her feel better, she felt extremely uncomfortable even talking about this. “My cousins tried to say the party was my idea…my aunt told my mom I was a bad influence or something…” Lizzie looked indignant. “That is so unfair!”

Lizzie was the first person to hear this story that didn’t yell at her about it. She’d held this in so long it became this big shameful secret. Sometimes she wondered if Lizzie would blame her like everyone else. It felt so good to be proved wrong.

“Miranda…” she looked up to see Lizzie really struggling with what she was going to ask her. “Are you sure you didn’t…he didn’t?” “We didn’t!” Miranda stressed. Lizzie didn’t seem convinced. “I mean, you said your memories of the night were hazy.” Miranda tensed up. “He swears he didn’t, I think I would remember something like that,” she felt tears come to her eyes. “My parents made me take a pregnancy test and I had to get tested for STDs.” Lizzie’s jaw dropped. “Everything was negative.” “Thank goodness…I couldn’t imagine showing my parents a pregnancy test…I feel like I would die of embarrassment.”

Miranda glared at her. “Pretty much!” “Sorry” Lizzie winced, “I feel like this is pretty major…is it OK if I share this with Gordo?” Miranda laughed. “I figured that goes without saying, you just have to make him promise not to lecture me.” Lizzie rolled her eyes. “He does tend to do that doesn’t he. I’ll make sure he keeps it quiet.” Miranda paused. “Lizzie, can I just ask you don’t tell Kate?” Lizzie seemed confused. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

Miranda adjusted her bangs nervously. “I just…I guess I’m surprised you guys are so close now. I wouldn’t really trust her with this stuff.” Lizzie adjusted herself to sit cross legged on the couch, facing Miranda. “A couple months ago, I would have said the same thing…but she’s really proved herself to be a really understanding friend. I think you should give her a chance Miranda.” Miranda felt all the rage and annoyance of the past few months bubbling up all at once. She felt it was best to change the subject.

“I guess…why don’t we finish the movie…actually knowing the plot of the thing will help me get ready for the audition.” Lizzie smiled. “I really hope you get it.” Miranda unpaused it, dimly recalling something about Tudgeman telling her the end of the movie was different from the end of the musical.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Miranda was squeezing her fists so tight she felt the blood drain out of her fingers. She was slumped in her seat in the auditorium, watching senior after senior nail their monologue auditions on the auditoriums impressive stage above her.

When she had first walked into auditions, she scanned the crowd for anyone she knew from Hillridge middle school. It was hard to make out everyone’s faces, as the bright lights on the stage cast a shadow over the students in their chairs. For the past forty minutes, she kept hoping she would recognize the next person to go up, do their monologue, and sing their audition song, but so far that hadn’t happened. For what must have been the tenth time, she uncrumpled her monologue script and squinted at it in a futile attempt to will her eyes to focus on the text in the darkness. Though she had endlessly poured over her monologue, she had been banking on having the extra time to look at it, recalling her memorization issues had contributed to her dismal performance in Mr. Escobars play in middle school.

The quality of the auditions she had seen were all over the map, so she wasn’t sure what to make of her competition. “Okay…Sanchez, Miranda?” She gulped. “Yeah! Uh…present!” She heard soft chuckles.

“Well, step on up!” She stuffed her crumpled monologue page into her back pocket as she walked up the stairs onto the stage. Looking out, she couldn’t make out a single face in the auditorium as it was shrouded in darkness.

“Don’t be nervous” she smiled, looking at the three people sitting at a fold out table across from her. In the middle was a Mrs. Jones, Hilldrige High’s drama teacher, a woman in her 50s with a warm smile and dreads almost all the way down her back. To her left was a thin boy with glasses, frowning with his arms crossed. Finally, to her right, was a senior with dirty blonde shaggy hair a little past his ears. He gave her a sheepish smile.

“Well then Miss Sanchez, would you like to try the monologue first or the song?” Mrs. Jones said encouragingly. “The monologue.” She answered, wanting to get it over with.

She stumbled through her monologue, mentally cursing herself for drawing a blank several times. How many times had she gone over her lines?! And everyone here was reading for the leads, so she had heard the monologie from every girl who auditioned. How had this happened? THE WORST!

“Alright, let’s get on the song.” Mrs. Jones smiled encouragingly. Miranda sighed. This part, she felt she could nail. The thin boy sat at the piano. “Do you have sheet music?” he asked without turning to look at her.

“I’m doing Somewhere That’s Green.”

“How original,” he said as he rolled his eyes.

Jeez, what was this guy’s problem? Miranda wondered.

Singing had always come naturally to her, she almost felt like she was on autopilot, belting out the tune. Hearing it in the movie had helped for her to really understand the emotion behind the song. She tried to add her own licks and twists and not just copy Ellen Greene’s rendition. When she finished, she heard her voice reverberating in the auditorium, she knew she had nailed it. The boy at the piano was staring at her with an eyebrow raised. Mrs. Jones responded with a small golf clap. “Wow!” she said. “Thank you so much for that!” “Check the callback sheet on Friday!” The boy with the shaggy hair said. She walked off the stage feeling the most confident she had since the first day of school.

\-------------------------------------------------

Miranda was drumming her pencil on her desk while nervously watching the clock. Just 47 minutes left of math class and then she could check the callback sheets posted up near the quad. “Miss Sanchez, we don’t need a soundtrack. Cut it out.” Mr. Flores said tersely.

She slammed her pencil on her desk and rolled her eyes.

“Check the attitude while you’re at it.” She felt her cheeks redden. Why was he so cranky all the time?! All week she’d been on edge waiting to hear about it. Her monologue went so so, but she had blown them away with her singing. She felt her odds were about 50 50. She really needed a project of her own to focus on, with Gordo busy with the school paper and Lizzie making new friends in the Glee Club. That, and practices would allow her to be out of the house more often than only on the approved outings with Lizzie and Gordo once a week.

She tried and failed to focus on Mr. Flores’ review of of the PEMDAS rule, absent-mindedly copying what he was writing on the board into her notebook.

She heard a light thud on her desk and noticed Larry had quickly set an eraser with a small folded piece of paper underneath next to her notebook. She looked up at the teacher, who was still droning on facing the board. She would have lost it if Larry had gotten her in trouble with Mr. Flores, who already seemed to dislike her.

She shot a curious glance at Larry, who was staring straight. She unfolded the piece of paper slowly, painfully slowly, so as not to make a sound, and place it on top of her notebook so as to appear as though she were taking notes. Scrawled in surprisingly neat handwriting was a short message.

_Sorry Frank’s being a jerk again. Seems like someone pissed in his coffee and he’s taking it out on you. Heard you made quite an impression with your singing at the audition!_

She smiled. OK! Yes! This could happen!

She hastily scrawled: _Really?! Do you think I’ll get cast? There were a million people at the auditions. Did you see the callback sheet yet?_

She looked up again at Flores. He took a sip from his thermos before turning back to the board. She passed Tudgeman the note. Flores turned to face them for a few minutes. She made sure to look at him and her notebook so as not to arise suspicion. To her surprise, Tudge was bold enough to quickly lay it on her desk. Her heart started beating like crazy. She did NOT want to get called out a third time.

Thankfully, Flores hadn’t noticed. Once he turned around she unfolded it. _Haven’t seen the sheet but at the production meeting Carlos wouldn’t shut up about how you were the only one who stayed on the beat with his playing and how you were the best singer there. The guy’s really picky about everything, so he wouldn’t say that for nothing. I’m in the dark for casting though, I think they were still making their final decisions last night._

\------------------------------

Miranda’s heart skipped a beat when the bell rang. She practically sprinted toward the quad.

There was a small crowded around where the papers had been posted. She weaved her way through and quickly scanned it, knowing there were dozens of people in back of her waiting to see it.

She saw Parker and Veruca’s names while looking for her own. At least she knew a couple people who’d been cast.

Sanchez, Miranda.

FINALLY.

 _Ensemble_.

Reading that word, her heart sank a little, but she was still happy to have been cast. Wait, there was something next to that… _Audrey_.

HUH?!

_(Singing voice)_

What? How? Was the other girl gonna lip sync while she sang back stage? What the hell?!

“Excuse me,” she heard a tall girl say as she nudged her.

“Oh yeah, sorry” Miranda mumbled as she walked away from the crowd.

She didn’t know how to feel about this as she walked to her next class.

“Hey, how’d it go?” she heard Larry’s voice ask. She looked up to see him switching out his math books for his physics book in his locker.

“Uh….mixed bag.” She said weakly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, life happened!


	7. Later, Lizzie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Miranda finds her place in the musical production, she's no longer able to ignore how out of place she feels with her old friends.

“How is that even gonna work?!” Gordo asked, half curious, half outraged.

Miranda sighed deeply, picking at her tater tot casserole. She had just explained the situation to both of the couples at her usual lunch table (…eugh) and they’d all sat silent until just now. “

Larry asked me the same thing and he’s doing tech for the show… I guess I’ll be dancing and singing in the ensemble whenever she’s off stage, but any time she needs to sing I’ll have to go backstage and sing for her.”

“Larry?” Gordo asked. Miranda rolled her eyes.

“Tudgeman.”

“Who’s the tuneless wonder playing the lead anyway?”

Miranda shrugged. “Some senior called Stephanie…something?”

“Steph Sullivan?” Kate asked pointedly.

Miranda looked up at her quizzically. It had been about a month since school started and Kate was still sitting with them at lunch every day. Wasn’t she sick of slumming it by now? Come to think of it, most of the cheer team was sitting at the table behind them. What was the deal there? She swallowed the deep fried sludge in her mouth and nodded. “

Yeah, you know her?” she asked without looking up.

“She’s vice captain of the cheer squad.”

Gordo coughed in the way he always did when he was suppressing a laugh.

“There’s a vice captain? What the hell is a vice captain?”

“Whoa, Miranda…language my lady!” Ethan interjected.

Miranda smiled and rolled her eyes. “Sorry Ethan.”

“Yeah it’s a whole thing!” Kate said excitedly, vastly overestimating the group’s interest in the politics of the cheer squad.

“Apparently she lost the vote to take over as captain by a single vote last year…and she went on this…campaign or whatever demanding a recount so they gave her this, second in command kind of role.”

“She sounds like a real piece of work” Gordo remarked, probably accurately.

Miranda felt her stomach drop. What had she gotten herself into?!

Kate smiled deviously. “I know it must be totally KILLING her to have to share her role with a freshman. Well done Miranda.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Kate looked guilty immediately.

“Sorry…I just thought it might make you feel better.” She trailed off.

“Well it doesn’t, now I’m freaked out about having to deal with the new queen bee.”

The table was silent.

“Sorry…” Kate picked up her tray. “I’ll see you guys later, I have to pick a book up at the library before my next class.”

“Don’t you have gym next?” Ethan asked as she walked off.

Lizzie, who had been strangely quiet for most of lunch, shot Miranda an angry look. Miranda shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, refusing to meet Lizzie’s gaze.

The sounds of chatter in the quad seemed to blend together, becoming dizzyingly loud. “Hold on…” Ethan’s voice snapped her out of it. “Lizzie knows all about lip syncing. She can help you work it out!”

“Well…” Lizzie sounded almost apologetic “Miranda won’t be the one lip syncing.” “Yeah, I’m not going to have my breakout moment like Lizzie.”

Ethan frowned at her. “Miranda Miranda Miranda, you gotta think of this as a glass half full situation! You got picked as having the best voice out of everyone, once miss vice cheer president graduates maybe you’ll get the lead next year.”

Gordo raised an eyebrow. “That’s a good point Ethan.” “Yeah Gordon don't sound so surprised.”

For all his faults, Ethan could be surprisingly insightful sometimes.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miranda drummed her pencil on the arm rest of her chair in the auditorium. Everyone had been instructed to bring a pencil and paper for the first cast and crew meeting, but there didn’t seem to be any reason for it as everyone was just standing up and introducing themselves.

She looked to her left to see Parker nodding off in her seat. She checked her watch. At this rate, she was going to miss her 7 PM curfew.

“…Buuuuut literally everyone on planet Earth calls me Tudgeman.” She looked up to see Larry on stage. “Me, Kyle and Alanna here are your dream team for lights, sound, running props, whatever.”

She was surprised he was making the introductions despite being the only freshman in the stage crew. Come to think of it, he talked a lot about hanging out with the people organizing the show. They seemed pretty chummy with him, laughing at his jokes rather than…at him like people did in middle school. He seemed a lot more comfortable in his skin than he did just last year.

“My name is Carlos and as most of you know I’m in charge of musical direction this year.”

She looked up to see the thin boy with glasses from the audition. This was the Carlos that apparently raved about her? He was mostly stone faced during her audition, Miranda almost had the impression she had said something to piss him off. He had his hands on his hips and already seemed exasperated with everyone involved in the production.

“…I don’t want to have to remind you to go over your music on your own time. You should obviously be doing that. I’ve left the sheet music in piles on the table at the entrance. Make sure you take the right pile and study it religiously. Don’t lose it, we’re not gonna print anything again.”

Veruca looked at her as if to say What’s this guy’s problem? Miranda shrugged.

“Anyway it’s getting late, let’s call it a night.” YES! Miranda thought to herself. If she hurried, she could make curfew. As everyone shuffled toward the back entrance he called out.

“Stephanie and … Miranda Sanchez” he pointedly pronounced her name in Spanish. “Stay back I need to talk to you.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She ran onto the stage, her heart racing. She felt like anything she said was liable to piss him off.

“Hi Carlos!”

“You speak Spanish?”

She was taken aback. She was one of the only Hispanic people at her middle school. She felt almost intimidated hearing Spanish spoken in the halls here. She felt a little embarrassed at how rusty it had gotten with disuse.

“ _Yeah of course! Hey I’m really sorry, but is there anyway we can make this quick? I really have to get out of here quick_.”

Carlos crossed his arms and smirked. “ _What you got a hot date on a Tuesday night or something?_ ”

Miranda laughed nervously. “ _Nah I just told my parents I’d be home at 7 and they’re a little strict_.”

He looked out at the crowd which had mostly petered out at this point and sighed. “ _I don’t think Stephanie is here anyway. If it’s that bad, I’ll drive you home sis. We can discuss on the way. Where do you live?_ ”

\-------------------------------------------

Miranda felt nervous stepping into his burgundy sedan. How would her parents react to a boy driving her home. She examined him, something about his beret or his tight black turtleneck miiiiiight just reassure them.

His car was pretty neat save for a mountain of photocopies in the backseat and a mostly empty Starbucks cup in the cupholder.

“Thanks for the ride home, I hope it’s not too much out of your way.”

“ _Don’t worry I live a little past there, no wonder you always speak English that’s the whitest neighbourhood ever._ ” She laughed a little uncomfortably. She’d been teased about not being Latina enough more than enough this summer. She’d never given much thought to it before this year, but how often she spoke Spanish, listened to Spanish music or how many Hispanic people she hung out with had been a huge topic of discussion with her cousins.

“ _Are you Mexican as well?_ ”

“ _My mom’s Mexican but my dad’s Puerto Rican_.”

“ _Cool. So what did you want to talk to me about?_ ” she asked as they pulled out of the school parking lot.

“ _Well missy we’re gonna have to work something out for this whole lip syncing situation…you need to understand Stephanie isn’t just tonedeaf, she’s not great at counting either, so I’m nervous about her ability to lip sync convincingly._ ”

So why did you make this call?! Miranda thought to herself.

“ _Yeah I’ve been curious about that…_ ”

“ _Here’s what I’m thinking_ ” he cut her off.

“ _We’re going to set you up in the wings so that she can see you singing and at least try to sync up that way_.”

“ _Ummm…won’t it look strange if she’s looking in the wings._ ”

“ _Maybe. Whatever. All I care about is that it sounds good, since that’s what I’m in charge of. We’ll figure something out._ ”

Miranda was at a loss. Who the hell made this decision? This play sounded like it was going to be a total gong show. She looked out the window, noticing the leaves were already starting to change.

“ _Has…is this something that’s been done in one of the musicals you worked on?_ ” Miranda asked tentatively. He laughed.

“ _I can hear how pissed off you are in your voice_!”

“ _I’m not…_ ”

“ _Bitch relax! It’s ok. Stephanie is a fantastic dancer and a pretty great actress, she’s been in every production since her freshman year I guess, I’m a junior so I’ve seen her in a couple plays. One thing she doesn’t have is a voice like yours!_ ”

Miranda felt her body relax. For whatever reason, Carlos seemed to like her, despite seeming kind of prickly in general.

“ _Thanks! Larry told me you were pretty picky with music so I guess that’s a huge complimen_ t”

“ _I guess so… I want this show to be good enough to mention on my Juilliard application next year_ ”

Miranda smiled. Ok this definitely felt good.

“ _That’s amazing! I’m trying to get better at the acting part so I can be on stage next year_.”

This was such a 180 from his sour disposition at the production meeting.

Maybe Ethan was right. She felt a twinge in her chest thinking about how angry Lizzie was with her after Kate left at lunch.

As they pulled onto her street, Carlos’ tone became stern again. “ _I’m warning you, you better be willing to put the work in. Rehearsals twice a week as of next week, and then we’ll probably have more as we get closer to the show._ ”

“ _You can count on me!_ ”

\--------------------------------------------------------

Miranda examined the pile of sheet music in front of her. After a quick supper, she had ran straight up to her room ready to get to work. The optimism she felt on the car ride was mitigated by the daunting task learning all this music was going to be. She flopped back onto her bed. She was also going to have a bunch of choreo to learn for her parts in the ensemble. Her eyelids felt heavy. Maybe she should call it a night and come at it fresh tomorrow.

She was jolted awake by the sound of her phone ringing. She thought about answering it but let it go. Whatever it was could wait.

“Miranda!” she heard her mom call from downstairs. “It’s Lizzie!”

She picked up the receiver, annoyed and wanting to cut the conversation short so she could go to sleep.

“Hey Lizzie.” She yawned.

“Oh, sorry were you asleep? It’s like 8:30…”

“No I’m just tired. I got the music for the show and I have a lot on my plate.”

“That’s cool. Can’t wait to see the show!”

Miranda could tell there was something Lizzie was afraid to say.

“Something on your mind?”

Lizzie sighed. “Miranda…you were a real jerk to Kate today.”

Miranda stiffened. “Are you serious? She was stressing me out!”

“She was trying to make you feel better!” Miranda rolled her eyes.

“Whatever I’ll say sorry tomorrow.”

There was a pause.

“Miranda, I’m saying this as your friend, you’ve had a real short temper with her and with almost everyone lately. I’m sorry you had a bad summer but you’re taking it out on everyone else and”

Miranda was FUMING. Bad summer?! She was on a tight curfew for the rest of eternity while Lizzie was turning down offers to sing for the producers of American Idol!

“Maybe my summer wouldn’t have sucked so much if my BEST FRIENDS had made time to write to me, or call me, or tell me about big events going on in their lives!”

“Miranda-“

“I found out about what happened in Rome from Larry Tudgeman, not from you-“

“It’s not like you gave me an update about your summer before class either”

“MAYBE BECAUSE IT WASN’T MAGAZINE WORTHY, IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST EMBARASSING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE”

She heard Lizzie choking back tears but at this point she didn’t care anymore.

“I would have thought when you got together with Gordo, I would have been the first person you would talk to about it, but the whole school knew about it before me! So you know what?! Save your lectures Lizzie. Have a nice life because clearly I don’t fit into it!”

She slammed the phone onto the receiver. Her hands were shaking, her breathing was heavy. She did not feel good about what she had just done, but at the same time, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Hot tears ran down her cheeks. How could Lizzie not understand how hurtful it was to come back after a few months and feel completely out of place with your own best friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a shot every time this chapter reminded you of being an angsty teenager. (Of water, hydration is important)
> 
> I am mega bummed the Lizzie reboot isn't happening. I guess that means any and all fanfiction is canon now right?


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